Hi Maddy. I wonder what you consider junk food?

If by junk you mean fast food type food, having surgery in June of this year and changing my eating habits afterwards, I don't crave that any longer. I used to survive on that stuff several nights a week.

Munchies to me usually means I crave salty, crunchy things. I had to retrain my brain away from wanting chips and that type of junk food (or at least try to retrain it). Instead of buying chips, I buy things like good pickles that satisfy that taste and texture sensation I want without setting myself up for failure. I don't often crave sweets, but I keep low calorie popsicles in the freezer so that I can have one and not stress if I want one.

I still want chips and that type of stuff, but I'm also really more aware of how much longer I'm pushing back my success. All that said, I have to avoid the chip aisle at the grocery store or I still sometimes cave. I am a stress eater to some degree. A few weeks back, I was really tired and stressed with work. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home one night, and in a moment of psychosis bought a large bag of chips. I managed to eat a good portion of that bag over the next several hours.

I also used to get the munchies out of boredom, usually at night. It was when I made a lot of bad choices. It's better now, but there are still nights when I get that urge to eat even though I'm not hungry. I can usually tell myself that I spent a boatload of money on surgery and have worked pretty hard since then to be successful through exercise and diet changes. I can usually change whatever I'm doing then and avoid a snack disaster.

There have still been times when I've made the "wrong" decision, but I look at the percentage of "right" to "wrong" decisions I make now and just move on.

Take care.